Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 3

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL Saturday, December 17, 1938 A3 afci Activist LaRomche Guilty of Fraud During 15 days of testimony in federal court in Alexandria, a parade of prosecution witnesses testified that they had loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the LaRouche organization but got little if any of their money back. One lender was Elizabeth Sexton of Suffield, who said she was never repaid the $112,800 she loaned to a LaRouche organization to help finance an anti-drug book. Ms. Sexton said that when "the barrel ran dry" in her personal funds, a persistent LaRouche fundraiser persuaded her to try to obtain a bank loan so she could lend more money. Larouche, a perennial independent presidential candidate, faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison and fines totaling $3.25 million.

The other six face lesser penalties for their roles on the mail fraud and conspiracy charges. The six are William Wertz, who was LaRouche's chief fund-raiser; Edward Spannaus, his legal coordinator, and fund-raisers Michael Bil-lington, Dennis Small, Paul Green-berg and Joyce Rubinstein. LaRouche, 66, and the six aides were charged with mail fraud and conspiracy for allegedly raising more than $30 million in loans from supporters without any intention of repaying them. All seven defendants were convicted of all 48 counts in the indictment returned on Oct. 14 by a federal grand jury.

Defense attorneys said they planned to appeal the convictions. In addition to the charges connected with the loans, LaRouche was accused of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by having all his personal expenses paid by various corporations he controls, and claiming he had no taxable income. Government prosecutors said LaRouche has not filed federal income tax returns for any year since 1978 and that he conspired to conceal the expenses that were paid on his behalf. A separate criminal case involving LaRouche and 18 of his followers is rescheduled for retrial in U.S. District Court in Boston starting Feb.

27. In that case, LaRouche is charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with allegedly unauthorized use of credit cards to raise $1 million for his 1984 presidential campaign. Governors OK DOE Proposal New system calls for the creation of a central information analyst to handle the large volume of information received from a high profile crime Emergency 911 Non-Emergency 768-1986 Crime Stoppers 842-STOP (842-7867) Any APD Substation Police Chief Sam V. Baca Deputy Chief David Ramirez Captain Leslie Martinez Lieutenant Richard Hughes or Art Olguin Sergeant Manages Manpower-Ruth Lowe, Lonnie Saiz or John Sanchez Officer In Charge THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALEXANDRIA, Va. A federal jury Friday convicted political maverick Lyndon LaRouche Jr.

of 13 counts of tax and mail fraud conspiracy for cheating federal tax collectors as well as his supporters whose loans were never repaid. After less than two days of deliberations, the jury of eight women and four men also convicted six LaRouche associates of mail fraud and conspiracy in the case of $30 million in defaulted loans. Chief U.S. District Judge Albert Bryan Jr. set sentencing for Jan.

27. APD Starts New Policy To Handle Crime lips CONTNIUED FROM PAGE A1 lie out to all those people at once, we'd lose it." Formerly, information from all areas was to be fed to the sergeant, who was busy out in the field handling the actual homicide investigation. Now, Ramirez said, operators fielding calls from the public will deal directly with the information analyst. "We still want citizens to call the same numbers they are accustomed to using for passing on information," said Capt. Leslie Martinez, who heads the violent crimes section.

The public should call the police department's non-emergency number, 768-1986, Crime Stoppers, 842-STOP, or a police substation. "We're trying not to change anything for the public," Martinez said. "We're only changing things internally." Information from the officers will also be funneled to the analyst. "The analyst's job will be to collect, analyze and log information into the computer," Martinez said. "He can also activate people in the field to follow up that information." Meanwhile, the sergeant will head up detectives working the case.

A lieutenant will be assigned to assist the sergeant, and coordinate such efforts as search groups and roadblocks. The information analyst will be passing on leads to the field personnel, and getting input from them. If a situation arose, such as in the Trupp case, where the sergeant Central Information Analyst Manages Information Detective assigned to unsolved homicides, currently Jack Tibbets, serves as information manager, evaluating information from all sources and passing along pertinent information to the sergeant in charge of the investigation. Has power to assign officers and contact detectives. Detectives Jf -b-h Source: APD JOURNAL Lyndon LaRouche Sentence could reach 65 years Diet Coke that they still slide two, three months beyond (the planned opening date) simply because of the nature of the environmental work," he said.

Romer said he, Carruthers Andrus hope the facility can open-no later than next December. A key portion of the DOE plan affecting New Mexico is that the agency will begin an administrative withdrawal while Congress debates whether to pass a land transfer bill. Such a bill would take the site out of the public domain and transfer land ownership from the Bureau of Land Management to DOE. If Congress does not succeed in passing a land withdrawal bill of its own by the close of the first term of its session next fall, the administrative withdrawal would take effect. As a result, Carruthers said, the pressure is now on Congress to pass a withdrawal bill.

Although a land withdrawal bill was introduced in Congress earlier this year, it failed. "It is absolutely essential that Congress acts on this," he said. "An administrative land withdrawal does not solve our problems, and (it) is asking for litigation" that could delay WIPP for several more years, he said. Rep. Joe Skeen, whose district includes WIPP, said he recognizes that Congress must act on the land withdrawal question.

Skeen sat in on the governors' meeting. "I think this double-pronged approach that DOE is taking has a great deal of merit," Skeen said, describing DOE's proposal as "a spur in the ear" of Congress. Skeen and five other congressmen from New Mexico, Idaho and Colorado met last week to discuss how they could work together to draft a land withdrawal bill that takes care of all three states' needs. First, however, the New Mexico delegation must reach agreement on WIPP, Skeen and Carruthers said. The delegation currently is split on the issue of when Environmental Protection Agency standards for WIPP should be met.

Rep. Bill Richardson, argues that all standards must be met before WIPP opens. The other four members of the delegation say EPA standards can be met in two phases. Richardson's press secretary, Stu Nagurka, said after the meeting that Richardson would not support administrative withdrawal under any circumstances even if Congress fails again in its attempt to pass a bill. DOE, he added, "should not be which he said is what would happen if an administrative transfer is done.

Secretary as a clearing house for information from all APD units, the Makes decision to set up Information Analyst and authorizes level of department resources to be used. General guidance, size of force on case Coordinates overall use of department resources Gives help where needed, gets support for Sergeant Field Lieutenant Search Grid 1 Search Groups Road Blocks systems when the Nov. 29 shootings occurred. "Cities around the country are experiencing the same problems Albuquerque has in handling the flood of information coming in after a major crime," Martinez said. "We knew it was just a matter of time until something like this happened here," she added.

Albuquerque police estimate they received more than 2,000 telephone calls from the public within a few hours after the bagel shop shootings. Sept. 9 in a wooded area off a frontage road near the Ideal Cement Co. in Tijeras Canyon also were not Lansdell's, Crago said. "These are very difficult cases to solve," she said, and the department hasn't gotten many leads to check out, except for dental records of missing women from other police agencies.

The remains found in Tijeras Canyon some teeth, a skull and ribs were those of a woman who could have been dead longer than two years, Crago said. The woman, of petite build, was also about 30, she said. A hiking or tennis shoe of unique design and a piece of jewelry were found there. CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 have become frustrated about the many roadblocks in storing radioactive waste. Colorado Gov.

Roy Romer has rejected plans to expand storage capacity at the Rocky Flats plant near Denver, and at one point threatened to shut down the facility if additional waste is not moved elsewhere. Meanwhile, Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus has blocked shipments of Rocky Flats waste to Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, saying he's tired of waiting for WIPP to open. Following Friday's meeting, however, Andrus said he would consider re-opening the Idaho facility next month, as long as Congress makes progress toward acquiring land for opening WIPP. "I said I would not accept the old statement of 'Trust Andrus said at a news conference.

"What I said was, 'Show Andrus, Romer and Carruthers all said they were pleased with the results of Friday's meeting. They said they were made aware of the federal government's urgency to open WIPP and the importance of Rocky Flats, which produces components for hydrogen bombs, for national security reasons. Because of the importance to national security, there is little doubt something will eventually be accomplished to try to solve the three states' problems, Carruthers said. "Before this day, we were three governors with three different sets of problems," he said. "We came together with DOE; I think we have a good-faith effort now." Andrus added, "I believe that DOE has put in motion a schedule that can work.

Whether it works or not, I'm not yet prepared to say." And Romer said, "I am willing to go home and say, 'I think there's a WIPP, an underground storage facility, is designed to store trans-uranic wastes wastes generated by nuclear weapons programs that are contaminated with plutonium and similar radioactive materials. WIPP originally was to have opened last C.uber, but its startup was pushed back until next June because of potentially catastrophic leaks in the caverns where waste would be stored. Deputy DOE Secretary Joseph Salgado said his agency would now like to see WIPP open by late August or early September. But Carruthers acknowledged that date is likely to be postponed again for at least a few months because of the environmental study. "I'll still bet you a cold six-pack of Remains Found in Sandias Not Those of Nurse CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 the skeleton and Lansdell to warrant a dental comparison.

On Friday, Flores said the dental comparisons showed that the skeleton was not Lansdell's. The Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque performed the dental study. Flores said police have not been able to identify the remains. Flores earlier said a preliminary comparison showed that the skeleton was missing its wisdom teeth, as was true of Lansdell. He said the general physical characteristics and the time of death were also similar.

The Information Analyst serves public and all other sources. couldn't be located, the analyst would pass a hot lead on up the chain of command to a lieutenant, captain or deputy chief. Or he could assign someone to follow up on it immediately. Baca said he makes the initial decision on how much manpower should be assigned to a case. He is assisted by Ramirez.

Martinez has the responsibility of deciding how that manpower is used. Working under her is either Lt. Richard Hughes of violent crimes or Lt. Art Olguin in crimi- Lansdell, 29, disappeared Sept. 21, 1985.

She was a nurse working at the Lovelace Urgent Care clinic on Isleta SW at the time of her disappearance. Police five months later found her rust-colored Porsche in the parking lot of an Albuquerque apartment complex. Mrs. William Lansdell said Friday that she had been notified that the remains weren't her daughter's. "We have mixed emotions," she said.

"We're disappointed because we do want it to end, and yet we're glad to know it's not her. We can cling to some hope as long as we can." Bow hunters on Dec. 4 found the partially buried remains of a Defense spends $1.6 billion per year in New Mexico. Tower said Friday that, as secretary of defense, he'll try to reform the procurement programs of the Defense Department, a pet project of Domenici's because of the tight budget situation. Tower did not get into specifics but outgoing Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci has proposed that 32 defense systems costing more than $100 billion be let out on four-year contracts at a savings estimated as between 10 percent and 15 percent.

Domenici argues that savings of that magnitude are necessary if the Pentagon is to avoid sharp cutbacks. "Everybody I know up here knows we need procurement reform at the Pentagon and that we school on setting up information nalistics. Baca also made it clear that the sergeant in charge will still have the hands-on responsibility for running the investigation. "If you get too many chiefs directly involved in the investigation, things really get screwed up," Baca said. The three sergeants assigned to violent crimes now are Lowe in homicide, Lonnie Saiz in armed robbery and John Sanchez in sex crimes.

Hughes was attending a national woman, about 5 feet 5 inches tall with a slim build, near some picnic grounds in the Sandia Mountains. Bernalillo sheriffs spokeswoman Ronni Crago said Friday that the department is treating the case as a homicide, although it remains undetermined what caused the woman's death. She released a more complete description of what had been found. Five bullets were discovered in the pockets of brown corduroy pants found with the remains, she said. Also found were some keys in a pocket, black motorcycle-type boots, and a green-printed flannel shirt.

Remains of another woman found can't give everything at the Defense Department equal priority so Tower will need to have a priority list so we can cut from the botton," Domenici said. He also called for a "chief deputy for Tower who's steeped in management" to help with the reforms. Bingaman said he supports multi-year procurement contracts but doesn't know the details of Carlucci's plan. He warned that while such contracts save significant amounts, "they also reduce our flexibility so we have to know we've made the right long-term commitment before we go with such a contract." There are a number of Strategic Defense Initiative programs in New Mexico, and Tower said Friday he has "no reservations" about the importance of SDI both as a deterrent and "a very valuable negotiating chip." Tower was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee during the first two years of Bingaman's term. Bingaman said Friday he found Tower "very fair" in that position and called him "a man who obviously knows the issues.

I think he's the logical choice." Tower Named Defense CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 Domenici, Bingaman Say Defense Choice Good News for N.M. recommend to Bush whether to reduce manpower and combat units, to maintain present forces at lower states of fighting readiness, to slow weapons production and cancel some or all the above. Tower has intricate knowledge of the programs, how they were managed through Congress and how to unravel them. He is strong enough to stand off the generals, admirals and contractor lobbies, say those who know him. The question is where, having been part of the lobby himself, he will come down.

There is an irony. Tower and his Senate staff had much to do with framing the first Reagan administration buildup budget, the one that set a four-year upward course. Crafty politician that he was, however, Tower could not resist for the administration the waves of opposition that eventually mounted. He left the Senate at the end of 1984. Bush is determined to carry out defense procurement reforms, and his advisers believe they could save $30 billion a year.

The reforms, discussed often with Tower, are considered necessary to regain public confidence. But few defense experts, including those of the Congressional Budget Office, believe they will produce gargantuan savings. A first order of business for the Bush administration will be a sweeping defense review to decide whether the Soviet threat has declined and what sort of strategy and forces the United States needs if the situation has changed. Tower's fitness for the Cabinet post and that he believed the nominee had been strengthened by the public questioning of his personal life. Tower, a Capitol insider friendly to military leaders but one they may not be able to bamboozle, promised to get more bang for each defense buck the time-honored aim when a defense build-down is under way.

His mission, he said, is "to provide at least as much, if not more, defense for less money." If he pulls that off, he will mash a lot of toes, not a worry for the prickly Texan. One who has been through the less-money wringer, Harold Brown, the Carter administration defense chief, had this observation on Tower's task: "It's a very challenging situation in terms of financial stringency, public mistrust of and dissatisfaction with the way the military establishment has been run, and the world situation in flux." The military budget this year is $300 billion. The Reagan administration is sending Congress a new proposal calling for a 2 percent, $6 billion, "real" increase on top of an increase for inflation. It says that would maintain existing forces and arms programs. Congress has signaled it will reject the 2 percent and the stage is thus set for Tower to blame the Democrats if he later has to reduce the forces.

Others would argue that 2 percent is not enough to sustain the present program. By that judgment, Tower sooner or later will have to By Paul R. Wieck OF THE JOURNAL'S WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON Presidentelect George Bush's choice of former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, to be top man at the Pentagon for the next four years is good news for New Mexico's defense industry in the view of Sens. Jeff Bingaman, and Pete Domenici, "Tower has supported the policies and programs that have gotten us where we are, so I see no disadvantage for New Mexico in his selection; I plan to vote for his confirmation," Bingaman said.

Domenici said Tower "is a friend of mine and he'll be OK for New Mexico's defense industry" and he'll support his.